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Phuket Gov, Vice Gov return lost wallet to doctor
PHUKET: Governor Nisit Jansomwong and Vice Governor Suthee Thongyam teamed up to return a lost wallet to a Phuket doctor today. “Vice Governor Suthee’s friend, Sorachai Sirichoti, along with two other friends, found the wallet at Rang Hill yesterday,” Prapan Kanprasang, chief of the Damrongtham Center (ombudsman’s office) said. “However, they ended up handing over the wallet to the vice…
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Woman dies in car crash on slippery Krabi road
PHUKET: A woman died yesterday when she lost control of her pick-up truck on a wet road in Krabi and slammed into a pole. Police arrived at the scene on Petchkasem Road in Khlong Thom district at about 10am to find a pick-up truck wrapped around a sign pole in the median of the road. “Phonphan Khongyot, 31, died instantly…
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Opinion: Road improvements to relieve Phuket’s traffic congestion
Samak Luedwonghad, 48, is the director of the Phuket Highways Office, under the Department of Highways. Originally from Nakhon Sri Thammarat province, he graduated from Mahanakorn University of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He has been the director of the Phuket Highways Office since 2012. Here, he talks about the ever-worsening traffic congestion on the island and…
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BISP swim team racks up records, 2016 Summer Olympics qualifiers
PHUKET: When the JSA Swim Academy at British International School Phuket first took to the pool in August 2013, the team had five international swimmers on scholarship, four swimmers from the school’s Flying Fish club team and high hopes. During the August to December 2014 swim season, the team’s nine swimmers (five girls and four boys) competed in the Thailand…
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106 suspected Rohingya found on Koh Ree, northwest of Phuket
PHUKET: More than 100 suspected Rohingya were found last night on Koh Ree in Mu Koh Surin National Marine Park, northwest of Phuket. The group – consisting of 89 men, 15 women and two children – was searching for food in the sea when they were spotted by local sea gypsies, who then notified park officers. “Yesterday evening I received…
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Marine officials clamp down on IUU fishing in Phuket
PHUKET: Local maritime officers and fishing operators gathered yesterday to discuss measures launched to shut down illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities in the region. The push for solutions follows the EU putting Thailand on formal notice on April 21 for not taking sufficient measures in the international fight against IUUs (story here). Thailand was given six months to…
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Opinion: Helmetless children, hurdles to Phuket parenting
PHUKET: I’m a recent arrival in Phuket after spending several months in Bangkok where I purchased a Honda CBR150 sports bike and then dared to negotiate the city’s infamous traffic. I’d been cautioned not to do so because of the potential for injury or death, but having successfully driven a Chinese-made 150cc motorcycle, which resembled a scaled-down Harley, on the…
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Opinion: Russian Return – just victims of ‘host fatigue’
PHUKET: Good news for Phuket’s all-important tourism industry comes with indications that the sharp downturn in arrivals from Russia in the first quarter of this year is expected to be short-lived, with a solid recovery for this important market sector projected for the fourth quarter, according to industry analysts. The huge increase in the number of tourists from Russia to…
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New Banyan Tree Phuket hotel manager “at home’
PHUKET: Hery Kuswoyo has taken the helm as the hotel manager for Banyan Tree Phuket, the Banyan Tree group’s flagship property. Mr Kuswoyo joined the Banyan Tree family in 2010 as the Food and Beverage Executive Assistant Manager for Banyan Tree Bangkok. Prior to joining the Phuket team, he was the executive assistant manager for Banyan Tree Macau – the…
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Finance: Sometimes you can buy happiness
PHUKET: I recently read a study about buying experiences versus material things and their relative effects on happiness. Interestingly, studies show that money only increases happiness up to a certain point, and buying experiences can have a longer effect on happiness than buying material things, even though the ‘things’ will be around for a substantial amount of time. The reason…
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Thalang man shot in alleged case of mistaken identity
PHUKET: A Thalang man was shot and seriously injured after he was allegedly mistaken for someone else. Kordetch Sinto, 38, was sitting outside of his rented room in Thalang on Wednesday evening when four suspects on two motorbikes rode up and shot him in the back. Mr Kordetch had already been rushed to Thalang Hospital before officers arrived, Phuket Provincial…
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Bikers baffled by nails scattered in bicycle lane
PHUKET: Island officials are searching for the culprit – or culprits – who left more than 100 nails in the bicycle lane at Saphan Hin, resulting in three punctured bicycle tires this week. A group of cyclists noticed the scattered nails when one of their bikes’ tires deflated while the group was riding on the path on Tuesday. “We didn’t…
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Phuket lifeguards to sign new contract
PHUKET: The Phuket Lifeguard Club (PLC) will sign a new contract tomorrow and lifeguards are expected to return to Phuket’s beaches by next Wednesday, just as the southwest monsoon season and corresponding dangerous sea conditions take hold. This year, the contract stipulates that there will be a total of 95 employees: 83 lifeguards, nine chief lifeguards and three managers. There…
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Phuket lucky licence plate auction next weekend
PHUKET: The Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) is hoping to raise more than 20 million baht from this year’s Lucky Licence Plate Auction, which will be held in Phuket Town next weekend. The two-day event at the Phuket Merlin Hotel will begin on May 23 at 9am, with 301 licence plates to go to the highest bidders. All licence plates…
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Cheap tuk-tuk service to be launched in Phuket Town
PHUKET: The Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) is organizing a tuk-tuk service in Phuket Town that will provide affordable transport for locals and tourists alike within the city limits. The news follows multiple complaints filed at Provincial Hall, the latest made on May 8, by a group of illegal tuk-tuk drivers who have been trying to obtain legal taxi status…
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Enormous king cobra caught creeping into Phuket hotel
PHUKET: A four-meter-long king cobra was wrangled into submission by rescue workers as it tried to sneak into a Phuket hotel room last night. Saiyan Thamaphan, chief of the Phuket Ruamjai Rescue Foundation, and his team arrived at Star of Phuket Resort to find panicked tourists and locals gathered outside. “We found the king cobra trying to gain access to…
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Senior Bangkok official dies from Krabi hot spring splash
PHUKET: A senior official at the Attorney-General’s Office in Bangkok was pronounced dead on April 30 after a leap into a Krabi hot spring left him in a coma a few weeks earlier. Somkiat Phatkhun, the deputy director of the Training and Development Institute at the Office of the Attorney General in Bangkok, was on vacation with his wife when…
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Government vows to revisit Koh Kaew canal dredging project
PHUKET: The Marine Department director-general has vowed to renew efforts to find the best solution to the congested Koh Kaew canal, which links two of Phuket’s prominent marinas to Phang Nga Bay. The extension of the Koh Kaew canal, which leads to Royal Phuket Marina and the Boat Lagoon, was reported as being completed on December 28, 2014, allowing easier…
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Magnitude 7 earthquake strikes in Nepal – USGS
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community MAGNITUDE 7 EARTHQUAKE STRIKES IN NEPAL – USGS Phuket Gazette / ReutersPHUKET: A strong earthquake shook Nepal today, sending people in the capital Kathmandu rushing out on to the streets weeks after a devastating quake killed more than 8,000 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of…
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Thailand takes four-pronged approach to maritime-hub goal
PHUKET: The government will be pushing Thailand as a major yachting destination in the region using a four-pronged approach, the Marine Department director-general revealed at a public meeting in Phuket yesterday. To achieve Thailand’s goal, government offices will be working closely with maritime industry leaders to establish potential locations for new marinas in Thailand, develop and promote a yacht show,…
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Police identify alleged ‘money man’ behind Rohingya trafficking
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community ‘Trafficking bag man’ named Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Police yesterday obtained an arrest warrant for a man they said was a key financier behind the entire Rohingya trafficking racket in the South. The suspect, the 50th and latest wanted in connection with human labor…
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Summons issued for dangerous Phuket driver
PHUKET: The Phuket City Police are demanding that the owner of a black Fortuner SUV, whose vehicle was captured on video being driven recklessly, endangering other drivers, present himself to police. The video clearly shows the Fortuner cutting off two men on a motorbike in heavy traffic as it merges onto the bypass road from Yaowarat Road, and then coming…
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Video Report: Drug dealer’s daughter nabbed for dealing in Phuket Town
PHUKET: Police arrested a convicted drug dealer’s daughter on Saturday after she was found in possession of 5,400 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills, 41.50 grams of ya bah powder and more than 50g of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine). Police had been keeping a close eye on Suphanan Chaichana, 30, after her father, Lep Chaichana, was arrested for selling drugs and sentenced…
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Massive python found near Phuket Town school
PHUKET: A five-meter-long python was found coiled up at the entrance of a street across from Bangneaw School in Phuket Town yesterday morning. Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers rushed to the scene at Soi Jan Asawaksuk after being notified of the massive reptile by local villagers. “It took eight of us to lift and bag the snake. It weighed about 60…
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Opinion: Turn them off, folks
PHUKET: Because I’m an anxious flier, I have always been overly aware of my surroundings while taking commercial flights. With all the drama surrounding the ban of Thai carriers to Japan, South Korea and China following the United Nation’s International Civil Aviation Organization audit, which found that Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation met only 21 out of 100 operational and…
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Koh Lanta tagged as potential hotspot for human trafficking
PHUKET: Officials investigated Koh Lanta yesterday, following the popular tourist island being named as a potential hotspot for human trafficking. “We were alerted to the potential issue of people being smuggled into Thailand through Koh Lanta District after locals reported seeing a group of suspected Rohingya,” said Koh Lanta District Chief Suriyan Narongkul. “By the time we got there, the…
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Loan shark death threats motivated me, says Phuket tour company fraudster
PHUKET: The 25-year-old man wanted for defrauding a Phuket tour company of about 1.5 million baht handed himself into police on April 29, claiming that the crime was made under the duress of death threats from loan sharks. Peerapat ‘Deer’ Singhon, his lawyer and his parents appeared at the Phuket City Police Station after Mr Peerapat went into hiding for…
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Video Report: Only B600k of B4mn raised for quake victims handed to Nepal Embassy so far
PHUKET: Charitable islanders raised more than 4 million baht in the past week for the victims of the earthquake in Nepal, which killed more than 7,500 and affected an estimated 8mn people, according to the UN. The funds raised through the ‘Phuket Together For Nepal Disaster Victims’ were originally to be given directly to the Embassy of Nepal on March…
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Finance: Ways expats lose money
PHUKET: Financial problems, or losses, are often the major reason expats are forced to return home or worst – end up stuck somewhere they no longer want to be. If you don’t want to end up in the same position as the many failed expats, keep in mind the following ways they lose money abroad. OFFSHORE INVESTMENT PRODUCTS Investing in…
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Underpass temporarily closed again, this time for electrical maintenance
PHUKET: The newly opened Darasamut Underpass near Central Festival Phuket closed down temporarily again this morning while its electrical system underwent changes. “The underpass closed to traffic at about 8am today. Officers were changing the electric lane marker system from manual control to automatic,” Samak Luedwonghad, director of the Phuket Highways Office, told the Phuket Gazette this morning. Mr Samak…
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